InvASIAN of the Cultural Sort

Instead of the usual exam with 75 questions or a ten page essay, our Asian American Culture class went in a more dynamic direction for our midterm: cultural guerrillas with the intent to spread knowledge about the 1968 strike and to create an Asian American presence on campus. We split into four groups: visual/propaganda, fashion, skit, and poetry. My group (Just So Sick Girls + The Warriors) executed the poetry part by writing lines from poems and quotes about the SFSU strike of 1968 on boards all over campus. To cover more ground, each person paired up with one other group member and hit different buildings. Stephanie and I did our "invading" on the first and second floor of the Humanities building. One of the quotes we used was "Schools continue to be factories of the status quo, where children are shunted into prefabricated futures based on their class, gender, sexuality, and color" (from "A Letter to the Campus Community From the third world Liberation Front" written by TWLF participants). As it neared 8:00 a.m., students started filling the classrooms, so we began writing on the chalkboards in the bathrooms (ladies rooms only, of course). Watch the awesome video that Gelline put together for a better visual of what our group did.

In the beginning I dreaded waking up early to be on campus before classes started (I already get less than six hours of sleep each night), but I really enjoyed participating in the InvASIAN and was glad to see our whole group putting a lot of effort into it as well. The experience was quite thrilling—writing as fast as we can to lessen the possibility of someone walking in while we were still inside (to avoid the awkwardness) and opening doors to a crack and peeping into rooms to make sure they weren't occupied. With all the rooms we did, I'm sure that we raised a lot of awareness about the Asian American Studies panel and what happened in '68. Later while marching towards Malcolm X Plaza with the whole class, I felt like we were really striking, chanting "On strike—we're gonna shut it down."

Cultural InvAsian of Art

On Thursday, October 30, 2008, our group split up into pairs and "invaded" different buildings on campus at approximately 7 in the morning as part of our Cultural InvASIAN midterm, where we were supposed to use performance art to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the strike of 1968 at SFSU. Katrina and I were invading the first and second floors of the Humanities building. We wrote lines of poetry and quotes from Third World Liberation Front (TWLF) strikers on boards in classrooms and documented each with a photograph. Each of the pairs were supposed to get a bit of video to contribute to the 5 minutes documentation of our invasion, but a few people had trouble uploading their videos. It didn't matter though, because we had a lot of pictures and other members have videos. We also wrote the quotes in blackboards in the girl's bathrooms and posted fliers on the bulletin boards in the halls whenever we could find an unused tack.





We slowly peeked in each classroom and as it got closer to 8:10, when class starts, we skipped the ones that had their lights on because we didn't want to be seen during our "invasion." We did get the majority of rooms, and it was a lot of fun sneaking around. We were afraid someone might come in while we were writing, so we wrote everything really fast and messy, but no one came in. We left a flier at the bottom of the board where we wrote the quotes so anyone who was interested could read the flier and know what it was about. I felt as though I was doing my part in contributing to the struggle of Ethnic Studies and maybe influencing others to do the same. Hopefully, it got some teachers to remember the strike of '68 and maybe explain about it to their class.

Cultural invASIAN

For my Asian American Culture class, our midterm assignment was to commemorate the Third World Liberation Strike of 1968. Our class was split into four groups: fashion, poetry, skits, and visual and performing arts. My group, just so sick girls, combined with the Warriors and was in charge of the poetry section. We had a rough start, but in the end it all worked out. Our group decided to wake up early Thursday morning on October 30, 2008, and arrive on campus at 7am to “bomb” the school with poetry. We split into pairs and each pair was assigned to a building where they would write a poem or a quote from the 1968 Strike on the chalk board/white boards. To be honest, I wasn’t too excited about waking up early to write on boards but, as we went from classroom to classroom it turned out to be pretty fun. The sky was still dark and the classrooms were pitched black, it felt like we were breaking and entering. The anxiety of getting caught made this assignment exciting. I paired up with Sharon and we were in charge of the Business building. We hit up all the classrooms on the first floor and most of the classrooms on the second floor. On each board we wrote

Remember the strike!

Testament For My Students
"They're no different then the administration of this college,
which want to keep education for the select few."

- Kay Boyle

(student panel)
AAS: 40 Years of Struggle & Survival @ GYM 114 12PM Friday October 31st.

TWLF '68

Before heading back to class, we went back to one of the classrooms to try to get a video recorded reaction of someone who read our writing. We encountered one guy who read it, but he didn’t give us much of a response. We asked him what he thought of it and his response was “it was … interesting.”

I can read about the Third World Liberation Strike of 1968 over and over again. I can watch the video “On Strike” over and over again. I can listen to people talking about the 1968 strike over and over again, but honestly, I’m not the best at paying attention to these issues unless I am involved in it. I found this midterm to be very powerful. We all heard the saying “actions speak louder than words” which is completely true. Like I said I could read, watch, and listen to people talk about the strike over and over again, but nothing speaks louder to me than being apart of it. It may have not been the real strike but commemorating the strike of 68 by reenacting it, or taking excerpts from writings and sharing them helped me grasp an idea of what when down during the strike. Every little action we took whether it be from the skits group, the visual group, the fashion group, or the poetry group, helped the audience remember that because of the strike we now have ethnic study classes. We now have a College of Ethnic Studies, in fact, we are the only University to have a College of Ethnic Studies and it is all because of the people we stood up and fought. So now… in the year 2008… IT’S OUR TURN TO FIGHT!

Cultural InvASIAN Midterm Reflection

For the midterm we were the poetry group and at first we had some problems actually deciding what to do, but in the end we really pulled through and had something awesome. I felt that by 'bombing' the campus with our lines from poems and personal quotes, we really commemorated the 1968 TWLF strike and showed that we care about our ethnic studies.

I paired up with Jaimie and we attacked the Business building with:
Remember the strike!
Testament For My Students
"They're no different then the administration of this college,

who want to keep education for the select few." ~ Kay Boyle
(student panel) AAS: 40 Years of Struggle & Survival
@ GYM 114 12PM Friday October 31st.

TWLF '68

My experience was cool, despite the fact that i had to get up at 6AM to get to campus at 7AM. I thought it was so cool that we were trying to secretly share, educate, and show people that the Strike is and was very important and we must stand up and fight for our rights again today.
We must save our Asian American Studies and the College of Ethnic Studies now, and not let the work of the people in the 1968 strike be a waste. "The students united will never be defeated!!!"

And in the spirit of our midterm, i decided to write a little poem to get across what i think about the current situation of the budget cuts and what our group did.

That Was Then, This Is Now

The strike of '68
The result is just so great.
But now the problem is back,
and we must be on the attack.
Don't be afraid
we won't let this legacy fade!

Midterm Design Paper- Just So SiCK Girls and the Warriors

Summary of what we are doing:
We are going to do a cultural invasian of classrooms at SFSU where we will invade unoccupied classrooms early in the morning and write quotes from poems that were written about the strike (“Testament for My Students” by Kay Boyle) and post announcements to encourage students to attend the events of the 40th anniversary of the strike on the chalkboard.

Message:
We are informing and reminding students about the 1968 strike. We are also encouraging them to attend the events that are going on for the 40th anniversary celebration of the 1968 TWLF strike.

What each person will do:
Each person in our group will research poems that were written about the strike back in 1968 or write their own poem about the 1968 strike and select quote(s) to write on the chalkboards on campus. On the day of the cultural invasian, each person will pair up with another person infiltrate the board in their own creative way to inform students about the celebration happening for the strike. Each person will also take pictures with a digital camera and document the invasian on video.

Bibliography:

http://books.google.com/books?id=Qltu-Bw0hcUC&pg=PA47&lpg=PA47&dq=poems+written+about+the+san+francisco+state+strike&source=web&ots=-tJhXVOQq9&sig=1X9hnzAkVB1sXbx5mbUYIy9WWEI#PPA47,M1

http://books.google.com/books?id=i05HZYZjTuUC&pg=PA221&lpg=PA221&dq=Testament+for+my+Students&source=web&ots=R8oMdKlc4R&sig=FVXzXAZMVryCz0LJkKi366LszEQ#PPA222,M1

midterm; cultural invASIAN

Commemorating the Third World Liberation Strike was insane. Starting off with that film, how can the police especially, have the train of thought thinking they could use guns and batons as a solution to the silent strike for ethnic studies? And how can this college I’m going to integrate a vocational track, underlyingly indicating wealth is needed to be given the chance to succeed? It’s like when your born middle class, you’re already screwed – you can’t become nearly as successful as those already privileged. When Irene asked the class what we strike for, most the class stayed silent. That’s all it took to recognize the unity of our generation. There is none. Our generation is changing by the millisecond and we spend a lifetime tryna keep up and we ain’t got time to fight for what’s happening now. I see most of the world praying for gas prices to go down, for the recession to pass over, for budget cuts not to happen. There are too many hopeful thoughts and not enough hopeful action. Too caught up in getting what’s “mine” and not giving a fuck about what’s “yours.” All this anger and grief had me needing to write a poem, which was perfect for our midterm presentation.

I am in hunger desperation for a thing called
IDENTIFYCATION……..
Cats be so hungry nowadays for a solution,
A conclusion for every damn equation they see.
Like……..
“I ain’t got time for no common sense, no common people,
No common values, no common determination, no common –
EDUCATION……….
And I especially ain’t got no goddamn time to spend a cent
On your common Third World Liberation. *
But it was this implication that
40 years later racism cannot exist – or can it?
Inspire and give me a situation no one has ever considered
Because I still see racism being considered in every
Judgmental potential.
Man, who the hell… really cares?
1968- a silent fight for equal rights
2008 – now you tell me what we strike for

I’m not a pro or anything but I say what is simply there. Why cut ethnic courses here when we’re the only college that has a college of ethnic studies in the U.S? The skit and fashion group went on the 30th and they were awesome! I was so hyped to support this “strike re-enactment” that I wonder, if another one goes down – will I really support it FOR REAL?

Reflection: 40th anniversary celebration of the TWLF strike, the 1968 TWLF strike, and our cultural guerilla class INVASIAN

The Third World Liberation Strike that occurred at San Francisco State University marked its 40th anniversary this month. This was a very critical and significant strike because one of the major results was the creation of the only College of Ethnic Studies to exist in the United States. Back in 1968, students protested for education on ethnic studies as a result of the civil rights movement going on in San Francisco with the huge opposition of the Vietnam War. They led the longest college strike in the nation’s history but it was effective as an ethnic studies program was created to educate students about a variety of cultures.

I thought that marking the 40th anniversary of the Third World Liberation Strike with a bunch of events taking place over the course of four days was an effective way to inform others about remembering the strike. Not only was the celebration giving a reminder but it was also honoring those who endured pain to stand up for what they believed in to get ethnic studies classes that we have today. The anniversary celebration now comes at a time when Asian American studies classes are threatening to be cut. This semester there are 4 classes on Asian American culture with about 50 students enrolled in each class. However, due to the statewide budget cuts on education, Asian American studies classes like Asian American culture will be cut down to about 2 classes with about 100 students in each class. I feel like having so many students in one class to learn about Asian American culture is not an effective way for students to actually learn about Asian American culture. Students need to interact and work with others in these types of classes, and with an environment of about 100 students, making that happen is hard or even making that happen will not work at all. I am grateful for the efforts of the strikers because I am being educated about my culture, one of the important aspects that I will always have because my culture has roots from the past and present that make me who I am and how I perceive other cultures. If the strike did not occur, I would not know much about my culture as I do now and the only taste of cultural experience that I would get is through my family and friends. I would never fully understand culture, even though I have experienced it a countless number of times. The celebration is awesome and fun in the way that a mix of different Asian American groups are represented through performances, student panels, lectures, exhibits, and demonstrations-all interesting events that should not be missed.

Our ETHS 210 class did a Cultural Guerilla class Invasian of the entire campus with the theme of remembering 1968 Third World Liberation Strike. My group, Just So Sick Girls, teamed up with the Warriors to spread poetry throughout the entire campus by using quotes about the strike and writing them on boards. We each paired up and had our own campus building to invade. Gelline and I met up at 7 AM and we wrote on chalkboards and white boards in empty classrooms in the HSS building. I used the quote “We saw the police striking out in a sadly strange fury. Each time the baton fell on bone, the pain was felt by all of us” written by Kay Boyle in “Testament for my Students” and Gelline used quotes from the poem that she wrote about the strike. We were afraid that someone would catch us, but luckily nobody did. I thought that the experience was really fun because we were doing something creative to inform others about the strike and it was a good way to get others to think about the strike 40 years ago. It was not something boring to do for our midterm, like write an essay or read a book, but instead the experience was actually doing something big and influential and I liked that. For the rest of the groups in our class, I liked how they spread the message through their t-shirts, fashion show freeze frame, and giving their own thoughts about the strike. The entire class was letting others know about the big deal of the strike, and we were doing it in an effective and dramatic way. It took some courage and effort to spread the word but we all managed to do what we had to do. This 40th anniversary celebration of the 1968 Third World Liberation Strike will be one to remember because of the events going on, what occurred and resulted from the strike, and what our class did to contribute to its remembrance.